Detroit Cop Convicted of Malice Green Murder Dies

DETROIT — A former Detroit police officer convicted in the 1992 fatal beating of a man near a drug house has died. Larry Nevers was 72.

The Macomb County medical examiner’s office says Nevers died Sunday, Feb. 3 at Henry Ford Macomb Hospital. No details about the cause were immediately available, although Nevers had emphysema.

Nevers and fellow officer Walter Budzyn were convicted of second-degree murder in the death of Malice Green outside a Detroit drug house. The case made headlines because the officers were white and Green was black. The convictions were overturned, but Nevers and Budzyn later were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Nevers was released from prison in 2001. Prosecutors accused him of striking Green 14 times with a heavy flashlight. The officers said significant force was needed to subdue Green.